The Second Heidelberger Krug Tunnel to Elsenstraße
A second tunnel from the Heidelberger Krug pub brought a tailor couple to the West in their pyjamas, but an informer tipped off the Stasi within hours and an escape helper was shot and captured.
In September 1962 the Harry Seidel group returned to the cellar of the Heidelberger Krug pub. About 20 metres of the earlier Whitsun tunnel could be reused; from there a new section was dug towards Elsenstraße. When the intended cellar owner refused, the helpers found a tailor couple in Elsenstraße 86 who agreed to the plan.
At 4 a.m. on 6 October 1962 Seidel broke through the foundation wall. The tailor and his wife fled through the tunnel at once, still in their pyjamas. Two armed helpers then stayed on guard in the flat to await further refugees.
Hours earlier, the Stasi informer 'Hardy', who organised couriers for the Girrmann group, had passed on what he knew. Stasi officers traced the tailor's flat; when the agreed doorbell signal was given and the door opened, one helper was shot through the door, wounded in the thigh and arrested, while the second escaped. The tunnel was destroyed on 9 October.
Sources
- Tunnel Heidelberger Straße 28 – Der 2. TunnelTF-Mapping (Institut für Europäische Ethnologie, Humboldt-Universität Berlin)
- Gedenktafel für Heinz Jercha, Opfer der Berliner Mauer (plaque text mentions the October 1962 shooting)Museen Treptow-Köpenick / berlin.de
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The Kleinmachnow Tunnel and the Arrest of Harry Seidel
The betrayal of a 70-metre tunnel into Kleinmachnow ended with the capture of the famous escape helper Harry Seidel, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a show trial.
